Transmission Media

Introduction
• The transmission medium is the physical path by
which a message travels from sender to receiver.

• Computers and telecommunication devices use

signals to represent data.

• These signals are transmitted from a device to

another in the form of electromagnetic energy.
• Examples of Electromagnetic energy include
power, radio waves, infrared light, visible light,
ultraviolet light, and X and gamma rays.

• All these electromagnetic signals constitute the

electromagnetic spectrum

• Signals of low frequency (like voice signals) are

generally transmitted as current over metal cables.
It is not possible to transmit visible light over metal
cables, for this class of signals is necessary to use a
different media, for example fiber-optic cable.
Design Factors for Transmission Media
• Bandwidth: All other factors remaining constant, the greater
the band-width of a signal, the higher the data rate that can
be achieved.

• Transmission impairments. Limit the distance a signal can

travel.

• Interference: Competing signals in overlapping frequency

bands can distort or wipe out a signal.

• Number of receivers: Each attachment introduces some

attenuation and distortion, limiting distance and/or data rate.
TYPES OF TRANSMISSION MEDIA
 Guided Media

• Guided Media is that contain some

conducting material to carry data or signal.
Many types of cable and wires fall under this
category. Each of them has its own
characteristics like transmission speed,
effects of noise.
• Guided media is also known as wired media. In
this we will use wires to send our data from one
place to other place.

• There are three categories of guided media:

1. Twisted-pair cable
2. Coaxial cable
3. Fiber-optic cable
 Twisted-pair cable
• Twisted pair consists of two conductors (normally copper),
each with its own plastic insulation, twisted together.

• Twisted-pair cable comes in two forms: unshielded and

shielded.

• The twisting helps to reduce the interference (noise) and

crosstalk.
 Types of Twisted Pair

• STP (Shielded twisted pair)

• The pair is wrapped with metallic foil or braid
to insulate the pair from electromagnetic
interference

• UTP (Unshielded twisted pair)

• Each wire is insulated with plastic wrap, but
the pair is encased in an outer covering
 Unshielded Twisted-pair
(UTP) cable
• Any medium can transmit only a fixed range of
frequencies!
• UTP cable is the most common type of telecommunication
medium in use today.
• The range is suitable for
transmitting both data and
video.
• Advantages of UTP are its
cost and ease of use.
UTP is cheap, flexible, and
easy to install.
 Categories of Unshielded
Twisted Pair Cable
The Electronic Industries Association (EIA) has
developed standards to grade UTP.

• Category 1. The basic twisted-pair cabling used in

telephone systems. This level of quality is fine for
voice but inadequate for data transmission.

• Category 2. This category is suitable for voice and

data transmission of up to 2Mbps.
• Category 3.This category is suitable for data
transmission of up to 10 Mbps. It is now the
standard cable for most telephone systems.

• Category 4. This category is suitable for data

transmission of up to 20 Mbps.

• Category 5. This category is suitable for data

transmission of up to 100 Mbps.
Category Bandwidth Data Rate Digital/Analog Use

1 very low < 100 kbps Analog Telephone

2 < 2 MHz 2 Mbps Analog/digital T-1 lines

3 16 MHz 10 Mbps Digital LANs

4 20 MHz 20 Mbps Digital LANs

5 100 MHz 100 Mbps Digital LANs

6 (draft) 200 MHz 200 Mbps Digital LANs

7 (draft) 600 MHz 600 Mbps Digital LANs

Shielded Twisted (STP) Cable
• STP cable has a metal foil or braided-mesh covering
that enhances each pair of insulated conductors.
• The metal casing prevents
the penetration of
electromagnetic noise.
• Materials and
manufacturing
requirements make
STP more expensive
than UTP but less
susceptible to noise.
 UTP connectors
• The most common UTP connector is RJ45 (RJ stands for
Registered Jack).
 Coaxial Cable (or coax)
• Coaxial cable carries signals of higher frequency ranges
than twisted-pair cable.

• Coaxial Cable standards:

RG-8, RG-9, RG-11 are
used in thick Ethernet
RG-58 Used in thin Ethernet
RG-59 Used for TV
 outer jacket
(polyethylene)
shield
(braided wire)

insulating material

copper or aluminum
conductor
 BNC connectors
• To connect coaxial cable to devices, it is necessary to use
• coaxial connectors. The most common type of connector is
the Bayone-Neill-Concelman, or BNC, connectors. There are
three
• types: the BNC connector, the BNC T connector, the BNC
terminator.
• Applications include cable TV networks, and some traditional
Ethernet LANs like 10Base-2, or 10-Base5.
 Optical Fiber
• Metal cables transmit signals in the form of
electric current.
• Optical fiber is made of glass or plastic and
transmits signals in the form of light.
• Light, a form of electromagnetic energy, travels
at 300,000 Kilometers/second ( 186,000
miles/second), in a vacuum.
• The speed of the light depends on the density of
the medium through which it is traveling ( the
higher density, the slower the speed).
• Optical fibers use reflection to guide light through
a channel.
• A glass or core is surrounded by a cladding of less
dense glass or plastic. The difference in density
of the two materials must be such that a beam of
light moving through the core is reflected off the
cladding instead of being into it.
• Information is encoded onto a beam of light as a
series of on-off flashes that represent 1 and 0 bits.
Fiber Construction
 Types of Optical Fiber
• There are two basic types of fiber: multimode fiber and
single-mode fiber.

• Multimode fiber is best designed for short transmission

distances, and is suited for use in LAN systems and
video surveillance. 

• Single-mode fiber is best designed for longer

transmission distances, making it suitable for long-
distance telephony and multichannel television
broadcast systems.
 Propagation Modes (Types of Optical
Fiber )
• Current technology supports two modes for propagating
light along optical channels, each requiring fiber with
different physical characteristics: Multimode
and Single Mode.

• Multimode,
in turn, can be
implemented in
two forms:
or graded index.
• Multimode: In this case multiple beams from a
light source move through the core in different
paths.
• In multimode step-index fiber, the density of the
core remains constant from the center to the
edges. A beam of light moves through this
constant density in a straight line until it reaches
the interface of the core and cladding. At the
interface there is an abrupt change to a lower
density that alters the angle of the beam’s
motion.
• In a multimode graded-index fiber the density is
highest at the center of the core and decreases
gradually to its lowest at the edge.
Propagation Modes
Fiber-optic cable connectors
• The subscriber channel (SC) connector is used in cable
TV. It uses a push/pull locking system. The straight-tip
(ST) connector is used for connecting cable to
networking devices. MT-RJ is a new connector with the
same size as RJ45.
 Advantages of Optical Fiber
• The major advantages offered by fiber-optic cable over
twisted-pair and coaxial cable are noise resistance, less
signal attenuation, and higher bandwidth.

• Noise Resistance: Because fiber-optic transmission uses

light rather than electricity, noise is not a factor. External
light, the only possible interference, is blocked from the
channel by the outer jacket.
 Disadvantages of Optical
Fiber
• The main disadvantages of fiber optics are cost,
installation/maintenance, and fragility.
• Cost. Fiber-optic cable is expensive. Also, a laser light
source can cost thousands of dollars, compared to
hundreds of dollars for electrical signal generators.
• Installation/maintenance
• Fragility. Glass fiber is more easily broken than wire,
making it less useful for applications where hardware
portability is required.
 Unguided Media
• Unguided media, or wireless communication,
transport electromagnetic waves without using a
physical conductor. Instead the signals are
broadcast though air or water, and thus are
available to anyone who has a device capable of
receiving them.
• The section of the electromagnetic spectrum
defined as radio communication is divided into
eight ranges, called bands, each regulated by
government authorities.
Radio Communication Band
 Propagation of Radio Waves
• Radio technology considers the earth as surrounded by
two layers of atmosphere: the troposphere and the
ionosphere.

• The troposphere is the portion of the atmosphere

extending outward approximately 30 miles from the
earth's surface.
• The troposphere contains what we generally think of as
air. Clouds, wind, temperature variations, and weather in
general occur in the troposphere.
• The ionosphere is the layer of the atmosphere above the
troposphere but below space.
Propagation Methods
• Ground propagation. In ground propagation, radio waves
travel through the lowest portion of the atmosphere,
hugging the earth. These low-frequency signals emanate
in all directions from the transmitting antenna and follow
the curvature of the planet. The distance depends on the
power in the signal.
• In Sky propagation, higher-frequency radio waves
radiate upward into the ionosphere where they are
reflected back to earth. This type of transmission allows
for greater distances with lower power output.

• In Line-of-Sight Propagation, very high frequency signals

are transmitted in straight lines directly from antenna to
antenna.
 Types of Unguided Media

• Microwave Transmission
• Satellite Transmission
• Radio Wave Transmission
• Infrared Transmission
• Laser Transmission
Microwave Transmission
• Used for long-distance telephone
service.
• Uses radio frequency spectrum,
from 2 to 40 Ghz
• Parabolic dish transmitter,
mounted high
• Used by common carriers as well
as private networks
• Requires unobstructed line of
sight between source and
receiver
• Curvature of the earth requires stations (repeaters) ~30 miles
apart.
Radio Wave Transmission
• radio is omnidirectional and microwave is
directional
• Radio is a general term often used to encompass
frequencies in the range 3 kHz to 300 GHz.
• Mobile telephony occupies several frequency
bands just under 1 GHz.
 Infrared Transmission
• Uses transmitters/receivers (transceivers) that modulate
non-coherent infrared light.
• Transceivers must be within line of sight of each other
(directly or via reflection ).
• Unlike microwaves, infrared does not penetrate walls.
 Satellite Transmission
• A microwave relay station in space can relay signals over
long distances to geostationary satellites.
• Geostationary satellites
• remain above the equator at a height of 22,300 miles
(geosynchronous orbit)
• travel around the earth in exactly the time the earth
takes to rotate
Satellite Transmission
Satellite Transmission Links
• earth stations communicate by sending
signals to the satellite on an uplink

• the satellite then repeats those signals

on a downlink

• the broadcast nature of the downlink

makes it attractive for services such as
the distribution of television
programming
 Satellite Transmission Process
satellite
transponder

dish
dish
22,300 miles

uplink station downlink station

Thank you